Privacy Policy
Last updated October 15, 2026
Controller: ArtMap Inc. dba HackerNoon, PO Box 2206, Edwards, Colorado 81632, USA. Contact: [email protected].
1. What we process
| Data | Why | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Your voice recording (about 30 seconds) | To measure your vowels and run the accent model | Deleted as soon as it’s decoded, within seconds, and always within 5 minutes |
| A transcript of the recording | To line up the words you read with the vowels we measure, and to show you what we heard | Not saved. Shown only on your results page |
| Temporary voice measurements (vowel formants, and a short-lived numeric summary of your voice used by the accent model) | To produce your results | Discarded when the analysis finishes. Never used to identify you |
| Your results (dialect region, accent match) | To show them to you | Not saved. Gone when you close the page, unless you choose to share them (see section 3) |
| Basic technical data (IP address, browser type, page address, timestamps) | Security, abuse prevention and keeping the Site running | Kept in our hosting provider’s request logs for a limited time |
If other people can be heard in the background of your recording, their voices are processed and deleted the same way.
We do not use your voice to identify you, build a voiceprint, train AI models, or link you to any other data. We do not sell or share your personal information, and we don’t use it for advertising.
2. Where processing happens
Your audio is sent over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection to our server, hosted by Vercel Inc. in the United States, and deleted once the analysis is done. The accent model and speech tools run on that server. We do not send your audio to Hugging Face, OpenAI or any other model provider.
3. Sharing your results
Sharing is optional and happens only when you choose it. A share link contains your result’s headline, your top matches and the scores used to color the map. It never contains your audio or what you said. Anyone with the link can see that summary, our server uses it to draw the preview image, and it appears in our hosting provider’s request logs like any other page address. Once you post it on another site, that site’s privacy policy applies.
4. Cookies and analytics
Phonology.tech doesn’t set cookies, doesn’t use local storage, and doesn’t run advertising or analytics trackers.
5. Consent
Before you record, we ask you to confirm that you’re 18 or older and agree to these terms. You can stop at any time by cancelling the recording or closing the page before it’s submitted.
6. Legal bases (EU, UK and Swiss users)
We rely on your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a), and Art. 9(2)(a) to the extent a result could reveal sensitive information) to process the recording and its results. For basic technical data we rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the Site secure (Art. 6(1)(f)). You can withdraw consent at any time. Because we keep nothing, withdrawing mostly means not using the Site again.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK, California, Colorado, Illinois or Texas), you may have the right to access, correct or delete your data, or to object to its processing. Because we don’t keep recordings or results, we usually won’t have anything to give back or delete. To ask anyway, email [email protected]. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.
8. Biometric data
We do not collect biometric identifiers as defined by laws such as Illinois BIPA, Texas CUBI, Washington’s biometric law or the Colorado Privacy Act. We never use voice features to identify a person. Temporary voice measurements are discarded when your analysis finishes, and the recording itself is always deleted within 5 minutes.
9. Service providers
Vercel Inc. hosts the Site and runs the analysis. It processes data only to provide that service to us.
10. Children
The Site is not for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly process recordings of children. If you believe a child has used the Site, contact us.
11. Security
Audio is sent only over HTTPS. Access to the systems that process it is limited to HackerNoon staff who need it.
12. International users
HackerNoon is based in the United States. If you use the Site from somewhere else, your audio is processed in the US for the short time described above.
13. Changes
We will update the date above when this policy changes. If we ever start saving audio or results, we will ask for your consent before we do.
14. Relationship to HackerNoon’s main policy
If you also use hackernoon.com, the HackerNoon Privacy Policy covers that use. This policy covers phonology.tech. See also our Terms of Use.